Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a centerless grinding machine and more particularly to a centerless grinding machine suited to be used in a small installation space in particular.
Description of the Related Art
A centerless grinding machine is, as shown in FIG. 7, basically configured in that the periphery of work piece (hereinafter called work) W is ground by grinding wheel (c) rotationally driven while work W is rotationally supported by regulating wheel (a) and blade (b), and the regulating wheel (a) and the grinding wheel (c) are disposed opposite to each other at either side of work W (refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent 2004-114179).
Also, the regulating wheel (a) and the grinding wheel (c) are respectively provided with dressing units (d), (e) for dressing the grinding surface, and both of dressing units (d), (e) are disposed at the right and left sides of the regulating wheel (a) and the grinding wheel (c) in FIG. 7.
Such a configuration of centerless grinding machine is typically employed for all types of centerless grinding machines irrespective of the shapes and dimensions of relevant work W and the levels of grinding force applied to work W. Such a configuration causes various problems, which will be discussed below, and requires a relatively large installation space, interfering with size reduction and space saving of the centerless grinding machine.    (i) Also in alignment of dressing units (d), (e) with grinding wheel (c) and regulating wheel (a), these components (a), (c), (d), (e) are moved in a lateral direction (a vertical direction in FIG. 7) of the grinding machine and a sub operation panel other than an operation panel needs to be used.    (ii) The center height of work W is adjusted by changing the thickness of a spacer interposed between blade (b) and work rest (not shown) supporting blade (b), with reference to previous grinding results.    (iii) The amounts of diamond movement of dressing units (d), (e) relative to grinding wheel (c) and regulating wheel (a) are calculated from the outside diameter of work W, the outside diameters of grinding wheel (c) and regulating wheel (a), and the center heights of grinding wheel (c) and regulating wheel (a). The amounts are manually adjusted.    (iv) Generally, a coolant tank is separated from a grinding machine, which is not specifically illustrated. This restricts a reduction of the installation space of the centerless grinding machine.
In this respect, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent 2002-370143, Japanese Laid-Open Patent 2004-216518, Japanese Laid-Open Patent 2006-123132, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent 2007-190616, various configurations have been proposed for downsizing of centerless grinding machines which are not specifically illustrated. These configurations need to be further improved to drastically solve the problems.